[killcrazy]

it's irksome to me from a time management point of view. i want to know how long a tournament is going to take; i don't really like playing long sessions these days, particularly when it involves staring at a computer screen for hours. that said, you can make a fair guess at how many folks are going to late reg; once you've played a tournament a few times, you know how big the field will be.

incidentally, the number of people doesn't really affect how well you're doing. twice average after the first hour is twice average regardless of the number of players.

and i'm not a fan of the "there are 1000 people in this thing so i have to beat 999 to win" thinking. i would instead suggest you think about it in terms of how many times the field has to half in size. so yeah you have to get through 1000 guys, but the field only has to half in size like 8 times to get you to the final table. this i think is more appropriate, and in this context, an extra couple of hundred players doesn't really change things as much as you think. it's at most one extra flip rather than a gauntlet of potential suckouts.

swoop will have better insight into this, but i suspect a disproportionate amount of fish late reg? i don't see semi pro/strong amateurs giving up 30-60 minutes of deep stack play just to play immediately rather than in 20 minutes when the next game starts somewhere...probably also a disproportionate number of mass multitabling regs too, who fill the spots on their screen with whatever is available when they bust something.

Kc